All Eyes on Rivera and Jeter

By

Brian Costa

Feb. 14, 2013 11:27 p.m. ET

TAMPA, Fla.—In case you missed it, Mariano Rivera played catch the other day. He threw some practice pitches off a mound. He did not keel over.

Chances are, you already know this, because where Rivera went, a few dozen reporters and cameramen followed. The vigil will be very much the same next week, when Derek Jeter leaves the seclusion of the team's minor-league complex and subjects his reconstructed left ankle to the rigors of infield practice.

This is not some fan or media fascination. The Yankees are just as eager to see what remains of their two living legends, whose battle against Father Time encapsulates the dominant theme of their season.

Speaking about Jeter, Joe Girardi said earlier this week, "You want to see him. You kind of need to get to, 'I'm done worrying about him.' The same with Mo, in a sense. 'I'm done worrying about him.'"

There are simple baseball reasons for that. Jeter is still an important part of the Yankees' lineup, just as Rivera is still the anchor of their bullpen. But this fixation with their every move is about more than the Yankees' 2013 roster needs. It's as much about the idea of the team itself—and what Jeter and Rivera mean to it.

Those two are the lone remaining pillars holding up the belief that the Yankees are more than an ordinary baseball team. As long as their run of greatness continues, the Yankees will look like a team capable of winning a championship. It has been this way since 1996.

But take away Jeter and Rivera, and what are the Yankees? A good team, for sure. A very good organization. But one of many. Not one that stands alone at the top of the sport.

Take away Jeter and Rivera and the Yankees are just a very rich team in an industry where being rich isn't nearly the advantage it used to be. And with a mandate from ownership to cut payroll, even their financial strength doesn't strike fear into opponents the way it once did.

Take away Jeter and Rivera and the Yankees have one elite pitcher, one elite hitter and a motley mix of veterans past their primes and young players whose primes don't instill much excitement. Andy Pettitte is the only other player who commands the kind of respect given to Jeter and Rivera, though even he isn't as central to the Yankees' identity as they are.

Take away Jeter and Rivera and the veneer of greatness is gone. It's not surprising that each of their injuries last year—the images of Rivera being carted off the field in Kansas City and Jeter crumpling in agony in the Bronx—were so traumatic to teammates and fans.

All this was not inevitable. Alex Rodriguez could have remained durable and reasonably productive into his late 30s. Mark Teixeira could have continued to hit at an All-Star level. Joba Chamberlain or David Robertson could have emerged as the closer in waiting. The Yankees could have re-signed Rafael Soriano.

Any one of those developments would have made them less reliant on Jeter and Rivera in 2013. But none of that happened.

Likewise, if the Yankees had a new generation of top prospects ready to push their old icons out of the way, the health of Jeter and Rivera might be somewhat less of a worry. But the Yankees' best prospects are not yet major-league ready.

That leaves the Yankees looking fairly ordinary in a flattened American League East, in which parity now trumps excellence. You think of the Yankees without Jeter and Rivera—or with mediocre, fragile versions of them—and you see a team that looks vulnerable in a way it hasn't in a long, long time.

But then you walk into the Yankees' clubhouse Thursday morning and see Jeter's locker, pinstriped pants awaiting his arrival, as ever. You see Rivera running sprints in the rain on a back field alongside teammates in their 20s. And you wonder…one more time?

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